


Backtrack

by inhystereks



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Gen, Implied Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Isaac Lahey & Stiles Stilinski Friendship, Protective Sheriff Stilinski, Sheriff Stilinski is a Good Parent, Stilinski Family Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-26
Updated: 2015-12-26
Packaged: 2018-05-09 13:13:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5541317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inhystereks/pseuds/inhystereks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sheriff Stilinski is tired of all the lies.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Backtrack

The words didn’t mean anything. They were all lies.

“Derek and I aren’t friends, Dad, but he was exonerated. That whole thing was forever ago anyway. It’s old news now.”

“Dad, you know how clumsy I am. Even I don’t know where all my bruises come from.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t home on time, but I was just at Scott’s. I’m over there all the time; you don’t have to freak out, Dad.”

“I came back down here to shut down your computer after I got you upstairs, but I didn’t actually look at anything, Dad.”

“I think Isaac’s really sweet and really misunderstood, Dad. But I’ll stop hanging out with him if you want.”

Lies, lies, lies, and more lies. He wanted to believe his son, but...

Derek may not have been Stiles’ definition of the word “friend”, but Stiles compared every friendship he had to the one he had with Scott, meaning nothing quite measured up. And more than a few people had told him about seeing Stiles around town with “that Hale boy.”

Stiles was clumsy, but the Sheriff didn’t need to have seen as many domestic abuse cases as he had to know the difference between a bruise made by knocking into something and a bruise made by strong fingers wrapping around thin wrists. 

He’d only had to trick Scott into admitting that he had no idea where Stiles was a few times before he admitted to himself that Stiles was rarely where he said he was going to be. 

If Stiles was a cat, his nine lives would have been finished long ago. His curiosity was boundless, and he would have looked at the Sheriff’s files whether he had been involved in all the crime going on recently or not. 

Isaac Lahey hadn’t killed his father, but he did have a secret. One that had to do with Derek Hale and whatever Stiles was mixed up in. Stiles had sighed and agreed easily enough with the Sheriff’s warning that he knew his son would just make sure to be more careful about being seen rather than actually sever ties. 

Stiles inhaled air and exhaled falsehoods. The Sheriff wanted to believe the lies his son breathed, but contrary to what Stiles obviously presumed, he wasn’t actually an oblivious idiot. He was a fool for letting all of it go on for so long, but he knew better than to do that any longer. He stared at the front door as it closed behind Stiles, contemplating sinking to the floor. 

The Sheriff had no idea where his son was going. Who he was spending time with. Why he was lying so often. What had possessed him to get mixed up in something that had him showing up at crime scenes. Why he refused to say where the bruises came from. Where he slept at night when he wasn’t at home and he wasn’t with Scott. How he disappeared from his room some nights without the Sheriff hearing the front door. What was making him seem more like a war veteran than a carefree teenager. Why the desolate look in his eyes had been steadily growing. 

Stiles had always been talkative. But lately, the Sheriff was starting to realize how little his son actually said. He was sure it hadn’t always been this way. He was sure that Stiles used to tell him about every moment of his day from the time he woke up to the time they were eating dinner. The only time Stiles hadn’t done it consistently was just after his mother died, and even then he had never lied. He’d just been more quiet than usual. Now, the Sheriff was lucky if he could get any kind of answer about Stiles’ life outside of the house, let alone an honest one. 

The sheriff knew that he wasn't confused. He wasn't crazy either. Something was going on with his son, no matter what lies he came up with. And he refused to be a fool and go along with it anymore. 

There were so many things going on in the town. All the murders and deaths and random accidents and animal attacks. Every time something got solved a new problem would crop up. It was like every bad thing in the vicinity was being called directly into their small town to cause mayhem. The sheriff was constantly on the verge of losing his job, but really the most important thing to him was that his son was most definitely caught up on the middle of it all. He was tired of being given the runaround. This situation wasn't a game and even if it was he would be done playing. 

He pressed a hand to his chest as if he could actually touch the organ within. It felt like his heart was on fire, burning with terror and love for his son. Tears pricked his eyes as he fell into his recliner. He supposed he should be stronger. He supposed he shouldn’t be reduced to sobs because his teenage son was pulling away from him. But Stiles was his only child. And it wasn’t just him pulling away. He was involved in something. Something dangerous. Something that was hurting him and quite possibly requiring him to hurt others. 

He wished he could turn back time to when Stiles was just a boy. When he ran up with a beaming smile and practically threw himself into a hug from his father. When he was proud of his dad being the sheriff and would come to him with imaginary mysteries and cases to solve. The sheriff didn’t know at what point the love between them had crumbled, but he wished more than anything that he could find the missing pieces. Stiles told him things and the sheriff wanted to believe that he meant them, but he couldn’t stop the feeling in his gut that was telling him not to. That was telling him to look deeper, try to find what Stiles was so desperately trying to hide. 

And he refused to ignore that feeling any longer. He would find out what was going on with his son and fix it. No matter what.


End file.
